Life of Pi released today - you watching it?

Well I got that there was a boy, a boat and a lot of water, too. But that was about it.

The trailer I saw really didn't show any tiny detail of story - and yes, I was paying attention, thank you. I concentrated on the tiger because that was really all the trailer seemed to focus on. Other than that, all I really got was "this film will have some spectacular 3D scenes in it."

The trailer told me absolutely nothing about the story. The only thing it told me was this was somehow a film I should be really paying attention to. That's what made it worse. It really made the point that this was an "event film," so far from not watching closely - in fact, it convinced me to pay attention. But I still ended up none the wiser.

Sorry if I offended anyone enough that they needed to question my attention span when responding to my post.

And I'm very sorry if I offended you with my post. You should know me well enough by now not to take my posts seriously! I was only teasing you, no criticism intended.

so what happened for real? did he spend that time with the tiger really?

Spoiler

Well, that is the question - What (Adult) Pi says is that the story will make you believe in God.... At the end, when the writer says "so what really happened", Pi replies "which story do you prefer". The writer replies "the one with the tiger". Pi says "and so it goes with God". The question is posed to the viewer (or reader) - Which story do you prefer? Therefore do you want to believe the story with the tiger which includes incredible things which you have to take a "leap of faith" to believe, or do you prefer the the story which is believable. This is an analogy for religion - which branch of religion you follow is determined by "which story you prefer". There is no right or wrong answer to whether the tiger was on the boat or not - it is up to the viewer to decide which story they think is true or that they want to be true.

(at least that is my interpretation - I am not saying that is right, or the intention of the film maker, but having seen it 3 times and read the book twice, that is what I concluded).

Well I got that there was a boy, a boat and a lot of water, too. But that was about it.

The trailer I saw really didn't show any tiny detail of story - and yes, I was paying attention, thank you. I concentrated on the tiger because that was really all the trailer seemed to focus on. Other than that, all I really got was "this film will have some spectacular 3D scenes in it."

The trailer told me absolutely nothing about the story. The only thing it told me was this was somehow a film I should be really paying attention to. That's what made it worse. It really made the point that this was an "event film," so far from not watching closely - in fact, it convinced me to pay attention. But I still ended up none the wiser.

Sorry if I offended anyone enough that they needed to question my attention span when responding to my post.

My original comment stands, watch it again.

You may have watched teaser trailers which tend to concentrate on parts of the film.

Well, that is the question - What (Adult) Pi says is that the story will make you believe in God.... At the end, when the writer says "so what really happened", Pi replies "which story do you prefer". The writer replies "the one with the tiger". Pi says "and so it goes with God". The question is posed to the viewer (or reader) - Which story do you prefer? Therefore do you want to believe the story with the tiger which includes incredible things which you have to take a "leap of faith" to believe, or do you prefer the the story which is believable. This is an analogy for religion - which branch of religion you follow is determined by "which story you prefer". There is no right or wrong answer to whether the tiger was on the boat or not - it is up to the viewer to decide which story they think is true or that they want to be true.

(at least that is my interpretation - I am not saying that is right, or the intention of the film maker, but having seen it 3 times and read the book twice, that is what I concluded).

I went to see it with the Christmas Family Film thing we do every year.

I nearly broke my jaw as I was yawning so much. Dear god it was truly awful.

It was like going on a ride in an amusement park. The whole time I kept thinking "I ****ing hate this world". Haha, over dramatic, but it was the same reaction when I saw Avatar.

No one claims a good book would be better with pop out pictures, ergh, 3d is entirely the wrong way to take filming. Its a tacky add on that appeals to the mentally subnormal. I hate it, I hate those who like it, and I hate the guy who kept talking loudly on his phone to his girlfriend about the film whilst it was playing. He sucks the most.

Saw it yesterday. Enjoyed it a lot. It's just a good story, well told.

But the 3D is just as disappointing as ever. I went in hoping to be wowed and the best I can say is that it was the best use of 3D I've seen, but it still didn't add more to the film than it took away. The disadvantage of reduced brightness and increased blurriness is greater than the advantage of increased depth and more imaginative layering of images.

I appreciate Lee's brilliance in using 3D as part of the creative process but the finished product is still less enjoyable than a well-directed 2D film. And if anyone's seen Searching For Sugarman, wasn't the storm sequence in that so much more effective than the one in Pi? No 3D, no special effects, just a really convincing soundtrack and beautiful visuals.

People have complained that the ending feels tacked on, comes out of nowhere etc, but in the book, the last chapter contains the same ending as the film, but is told over only a few pages, so the ending of the film is in keeping with the ending of the book.

I thought it made a bigger difference in the film because we were merely told it. It wasn't shown. That made it less credible.

As to which version I believe: it seemed to me that the early parts of the film emphasised not having to choose. He believed in multiple religions, he never said goodbye to his girlfriend, he did not close off possibilities. So I suppose we're supposed to believe both versions of the story. (Or neither: in real life, neither happened.)

The bit with the tiger was implausible, but the bit with the floating island impossible. When I was reading the book, I thought the narrator had got sick and started hallucinating at that point.

Im confused at one thing - why did he build the second raft before he knew the tiger was on the boat. Unless im mistaken, at the start wasnt it only the Hyena who was a danger to Pi, and he would have been pretty easy to kill or push out of the boat ?

Im confused at one thing - why did he build the second raft before he knew the tiger was on the boat. Unless im mistaken, at the start wasnt it only the Hyena who was a danger to Pi, and he would have been pretty easy to kill or push out of the boat ?

Well, firstly it depends if you believe the animals were real or if they were his mind protecting him from the reality of who the animals really represented.

Im confused at one thing - why did he build the second raft before he knew the tiger was on the boat. Unless im mistaken, at the start wasnt it only the Hyena who was a danger to Pi, and he would have been pretty easy to kill or push out of the boat ?